War Bonds
by Yngvildr the Voracious
Summary: A little human girl on Shanxi meets a young turian on Palaven.
1. Chapter 1

"And this is a bunker into which members of the resistance hid during the Turian occupation. You see the signs, how they are scratched? It means that turians chased them from here to use the building for themselves at some point..."

Jane was only half listening. Yeah, of course, visiting Shanxi and stuff was good, but she had expected more tales of great battles and more raptor-like monsters with big ass rifles.

She supressed a giggle. She had said "ass" in her head. It was funny.

The bunker was old and dusty and grey. The other kids were looking at least as bored as she was herself. They all wanted to see turians, the big bad guys as they heard during their history lesson. Jane had missed it. She had just been tranfered to this school along with her mom when she changed ship. However, she knew about First Contact war. You can't be a spacer kid and not know about First Contact war, seriously! Even if you're six and you're a little girl.

Jane extended her right arm and let the group skitter along as she let her hand touch the wall and draw waves as she passed by. She liked the turian insignas over scratched human graffiti. They looked good together. Like the weird art that her mom's colleague loved, full of colour and... And weird stuff that made her insides wobbly when she looked at it.

She didn't let the group out of her sight. She didn't need to get lost or worst, get scolded for staying behind. This was her first week in this school!

Jane's hand passed over an insignia on the wall, one that was blue and looked like a river. It made a clicking noise when she touched it. It intrigued her, so she came closer to the wall. It was a small cache. A little omni-tool ring was in it. Jane hesitated.

The guide had said not to touch anything, because there may be dangerous things. But this wasn't dangerous, it was a stupid omni-tool ring... Hidden.

Jane took a deep breath and put her hand in the cache. She didn't realise that she had closed her eyes and ran until she was back to the peloton of six years old guided by the History teacher and the guide. The little ring felt so heavy in her pocket that she was scared that it might tear a hole through her pants.

"Are you okay, Jane-kun?" Kinomoto-san asked.

Jane took a deep breath, at last and answered as fast as she could :

"I was a bit behind, I was scared that I would get lost so I ran to you..."

"Well, you're here, that means that you weren't that far away." Kinomoto-san said with a reassuring tone. "Now come, the visit is almost over."

Jane felt a bit guilty, lying to Kinomoto-sensei. She was so nice and made her possible to allow Jane to come visit the New Lu'an war memorial, even though she had come late to the school. Should she give her the omni-tool ring so she could have it examined? Maybe it was indeed dangerous?

Jane decided to keep it.

When later this day, she went back home, she kissed her mom on her cheek, let herself be helped for her spelling exercises and retreated to her room.

This omni-tool ring was hers. And she was going to use it.


	2. Chapter 2

When the omni-tool resting near the holos on his desk rang, Garrus froze. It was the middle of the night, here on Palaven and the omni-tool was ringing. It felt like an evil spirit was knocking at the door. His heart tightened in his chest and the air he was breathing felt cold, even though he was in his bed, staring at the orange glow of the omni-tool.

It was a gift from his favourite cousin Laverne. She had gone to war a few years ago. Three years ago, to be precise. Father insisted that Garrus was precise when he talked about stuff.

Garrus took the ringing omni-tool in his hand and hid the orange glow beneath his blanket. The omni-tool was cold, still brand new. Garrus had barely touched it, thinking he wouldn't need it until he was in basic.

But no. No.

He would probably ask Father for another one. Or buy one of his own.

This omni-tool was too painful to keep.

When Father was away, working on the Citadel and Mother was sick and pregnant with Solana, his cousin Laverne was watching him. And then she went to war against the humans.

Shame and sadness came back. The omni-tool had stopped ringing and it made Garrus feel better. He had whined and acted like a spoiled little boy that day. Laverne had scolded him. And now, it was the last thing she had said to him, that he was an ungrateful brat that wouldn't do his duty to the Hierarchy and be brave.

Garrus fell asleep, his throat was sore in the morning. He went to school with his little sister and came back with her. He was big enough to take care of her, now. Mother was at work and their homework had to be perfect or Mother wouldn't let him play outside with his friends afterwards.

He woke up a few minutes before his alarm clock rang to the omni-tool ringing again. Angry and still half asleep, he took it and pushed a key to answer, half noticing the provenance of the call (Shanxi) and the local hour of the emitter (late night). He growled and hissed:

"Stop calling me, you're dead, you're a ghost and you're never coming back! I hate you!"

The offender hung up immediately. Garrus sank back into his bed, looking at the Palaveni sun rising through the window of his room. He sighed, letting out a soft sad trill. The person who had called him wasn't a turian. He seemed to be human. He also seemed scared. Well, he should be! Stealing from the dead like that! This omni-tool should be brought back home. Garrus repressed the urge to call back. He was up ten minutes early, he might as well use the time.

He sighed and had a shower, got dressed and ate some breakfast. Soon, he was helping his sister on her brand new hoverboard, jumping on his. Once he was at school, clasping wrists with his friends, he had almost forgotten the omni-tool ring in his pocket.

* * *

*hoverboard because it's a childhood dream of mine and I totally see Garrus going to school on a hoverboard instead of a bike like I sometimes do.


	3. Chapter 3

Jane was shaken and had a real hard time getting back to sleep. She already was entirely covered beneath her blankets, but her ears were ringing with the voice angry voice of the turian. She couldn't stop shaking and she was afraid to close her eyes. After a few minutes, cold sweat had soaked her back and she threw the blanket away. The omni-tool ring seemed to burn her, so she tossed it as well, breathing heavily. When she realised what had happened, she cursed herself. What was she thinking? She should have given it to Kinomoto-sensei. Or at least, to Mom. But it was two in the morning. Mom was probably fast asleep if Jane was lucky. Maybe she didn't actually want to be lucky for real.

Jane ungracefully sneaked into Mom's bed, and snuggled next to her beneath the blankets. Mom groaned but only mumbled some "go back to your own bed, Janey..." before she fell back asleep. Something Jane envied her, because whenever she closed her eyes, she saw the face of the monster, its mandibles flaring and its eyes monstrously bulging as it yelled in anger at her.

When Jane woke up, her Mom was by her side, her hand on her forehead. She felt dizzy, and somehow, she wanted to puke.

"Hey, honey." Mom said in a soft voice. "Are you feeling okay?»

Jane thought hard and when she finally wanted to say no, she croaked and gurgled some unintelligible grunt.

"Don't speak, darling." Mom said.

Well, it's stupid because you asked me a question!

But the words wouldn't leave her throat. It was so sore.

Jane spent the whole day in Mom's bed, half sleeping, half growling for water. She was hot but she didn't dare uncover herself. He Mom had once explained to her that microbes made her feel hot so she would weaken herself and be more sick. She was pretty sure she made that up, but Jane only liked to take risks when she wasn't sick, so she buried herself even more deeply into the blankets.

She woke up later during the night, feeling a little bit better. She realised that Mom had carried her into her room. She also saw and heard the orange glow and the faint bell ringing that had woken her up. Jane took one big difficult breath. She got up and took the omni-tool before getting back to bed. She was scared. What if it was the angry monster again?

She clicked on the button. On screen was a strange blue scarf that was held by a strange gloved hand with only three fingers. Jane's heart started beating strangely faster. How did she look? She probably was so ugly, with her skin all red from the fever, her nose running like a waterfall and her hair all messy and greasy.

On screen, the scarf was waving and Jane felt stupid to care about her looks when the person who called her only showed his hand and the stupid blue scarf.

"the mshargr..."

Jane closed her mouth and coughed very hard. Her throat still hurt and she felt like someone had forced a cheese grater through her throat.

"What was that? My translator didn't pick up anything?"

"Maybe we're not updated on humans or something..."

"At school, they say that humans mature slower than us. Maybe she's just too young to say full words."

Jane didn't dare say a thing, but she felt hurt. Did they just use fancy words to say that she was a cry-baby?! She was old enough to have her own translator fitted! It had taken forever, but Mom and she used to live on Arcturus Station. Sometimes alien diplomats visited and they didn't need kids to say the wrong things to those important people. Because the last time there was a misunderstanding, it caused war.

Not that any children was there, it was all the grown-ups fault.

Jane grunted and coughed again before closing the connection. She didn't need to get humiliated by a stranger. She didn't need to be insulted by two stupid turians.


	4. Chapter 4

"I told you it was a bad idea, Sol."

"But I wanted to see your human!"

"She's not my human! I should have properly reported this to Father or something. He'd get the parents of the human to return the 'tool and it'd be all over..."

Garrus was angry. He regretted telling his little sister, but she woke up earlier than usual and surprised him in his room, fiddling around the omni-tool, considering trying to call back the human.

He couldn't shake the idea off his head that something was wrong with her this morning. She didn't look the same as before. Not that he paid attention to her when she first called. Still, she hadn't looked all red when she had first called. She had just looked very little with very puffy cheeks, just like the pictures in the xenobiology class he had seen yesterday.

Of course, the xenobiology class would cover the new humans. Know every potential enemy. Especially one that has bested you before. Not that it was said aloud in class. They just shoved the pictures under their noses and explained the specificities of the race. The hair on the head, on the face for grown males, beneath the arms, on the chest, between and all over the legs. The heart to their left, the reproduction system, then pictures of an embryo, of a foetus, of a new born, of a child and...

Garrus eyes had fallen on the child with big soft puffy cheeks and a grin full of flat white teeth. They seemed to lose this puffiness according to the images he went through. Showing the progression and growth of a human. They also seemed to have many different colours. White like snow, dark like night. Their furs were full of colours too. Black, yellow, orange, red, just like their blood.

It had to be the red. Maybe she was hurt and she was bleeding all over? No, she wouldn't have answered. Her parents would have been responsible people and given her medical aid... Or maybe they weren't... What if she was just some poor girl, an orphan left to fend for herself alone in the streets?

No, she would have sold the omni-tool to get some easy credits...

He mechanically helped his sister on her hoverboard and hoped on his. At least, he thought he did. He tripped and fell. He groaned. Why was he so worried about a little human girl that was probably at the other end of the galaxy? Or just on Shanxi... Cousin Laverne was ground forces. She probably was planet side during the occupation. A kid playing in old bunkers could have retrieved the lost omni-tool.

Solana helped Garrus up and looked at him funny. He jumped on his hoverboard, for real, and darted off toward school. He only slowed down when he remembered that he wasn't supposed to leave his little sister alone. He slowed down, letting her catch up.

This time, he didn't forget about the little human. Today was maths. It was his favourite class. Yet, as he clasped wrists with his friends, he couldn't get himself to be cheerful.

Was he a bad turian? To worry so much about a human child he didn't know while she had stolen (or maybe she just found it. Yeah, she probably just found it...) his deceased cousin's omni-tool.

He didn't know. When the lunch break rang, he excused himself from his group of friends and isolated himself. There was a spot on the grounds were older students usually went to make out before basic started. It was a good hiding place. Garrus sniffed the air, looking for scent typical of a sexual encounter. He smelt none that seemed recent. He also didn't hear any groans or shrieks. He dived into cover and, his back to the wall, his scarf in his hand, he rang the omni-tool.

She answered. Her long red hair looked wet and her face was still really red. However, her eyes seemed less closed. Did she have some rest? Garrus looked at the local hour. It was quite early in the morning, probably a time where the little human girl could have prepared to go to school.

He remembered the words she had said this morning. Was it a formal greeting in her language?

"The mashagr..." he mumbled, trying to imitate the sound, best he could.

The lips of the human girl did something funny. They twitched and some liquid, maybe drool, dripped onto her chin. And then, she was laughing. Uproariously. He voice seemed altered, it was really low pitched and...

"Why is your voice so hoarse that you can't speak?" Garrus asked out loud...

"Show me your face and I'll tell you." she said, her voice sounding like she had a four testicles, three hearts and two livers.

Garrus bit back a curse word. He quickly threw his scarf around his chin, it catched in his mandibles in a terrible way, but at least, she would only see half of his marks.

"I said show me your fa..."

The girl started another coughing fit. Now she sounded like a sick batarian... Well, close enough: Batarians were mammals too. When they were sick, their thick skin took an orange tint from the blood rushing all over their body to distribute the antibodies faster... Except that human blood is red...

Garrus removed the scarf. He felt really stupid now... He had told Solana so.

"So, here I am. I thought humans found turians ugly." Or so Solana thought.

The human coughed again once and then said in her ridiculously croaky voice:

"Everybody is ugly. Turians are just the ugliest. And I'm sick and my body is getting rid of some of the bad stuff through my nose and throat. That's why I cough and I speak..." *cough* "In a weird language that your translators don't pick up. Not because I'm a baby. I'm a big girl and I go to school."

Garrus looked at her intently. She seemed really young. Maybe she was around Solana's age, six to eight years old, the kind of child that still needs to be supervised but had a certain independence when in an environment devoid of any immediate risks... Like hanging around in a bunker on Shanxi...

"How did you find the omni-tool?" the young turian asked.

"Found it. My class was visiting one of the bunkers on Shanxi. I guess you know Shanxi, right?"

"I do." He didn't need to precisely tell her learned it in a "preparatory course to Citizenship" he started taking as an extra this year, though...

"I do because I live on Shanxi now. But I lived with my mom on her ship before, when she wasn't patrolling yet. Now they assigned her to light patrol duty. Planets are bor..." she coughed. "Boring."

The bell rang in the building behind Garrus. Damn, he was going to be late.

"Listen... This omni tool... It... It's..."

Her face was so round. How old was she? Did she say it? Her eyes were round too and shiny. Maybe it was the illness in her.

"You can keep it. I'll try to call you again. You'll know it's me because I'll show my scarf first."

"And I'll groan so you'll know it's all okay on my side too!" she said, sounding... Was she excited by all this? "Hey, we're like spies saying stuff through code!"

"I really got to go to class."

"Wait!" she suddenly said.

Her eyes seemed like they were falling, it scared Garrus. Later when he was back in his class with a pensum to be fulfilled later (he'll have to call his mom to pick up Solana since he would be staying late after class) he thought that she was maybe unsure. Uncertain about something. Maybe what she had gathered of human protocol during vidcalls didn't quite fit what they had and she wanted to look like she did things properly.

_My name is Jane. I am six and... And I'm in first grade, obviously! I should go!_

He mechanically went through his pensum, cleaning up the pristine schoolyard (well, he did find a paper in the younger kids' yard)

_Six... First grade, obviously! ... Should go!... is Jane !..._

The door of his bedroom finally closed behind him and he threw his bag onto his bed and himself, grabbing his blue scarf.


	5. Chapter 5

Jane was all healed. However, she didn't want to go back to school. School was boring and everyone was looking at her wrong. They're just a bunch of jealous babies. However, Mom insisted that she go because she had work to do and Jane could use some friends.

But Jane was making friends! Garrus had to count for something, right?

However, the little girl couldn't quite bring herself to talk about her turian friend yet. What if she got scolded because she touched something in the bunkers? It could have been dangerous, like a mine! And Mom would never understand. Also, she knew that Dad was dead during the war. Maybe some relative of Garrus even killed him. Not that it would be his fault. It was war and Dad was doing his job. Mom even said that he was a hero. Jane couldn't remember, she was three, then. Sometimes, when she tried to remember something about Dad, she remembered how he would make her fly, how he would show her the bright huge ball. Sometimes, she would hear his laugh, see his smile and marvel at the red hair, so much like her own.

She would dream about it. About herself, feeling like the world was huge, feeling herself shaking with every step and feeling her whole body fill with wonder as she watched the bright ball, brighter than the sun itself. Then, she would feel herself fly and shake as Dad's strong arms parted with her skin. She'd fly and fall and laugh. Her world vibrated and was filled with the faint sound of baby laughter. She usually woke up at that moment.

And lately, this was happening during class. She had started to talk with Garrus often and mostly during the night, when he was at school. At one point, they tried the other way around, but there was always some adult around Jane at all times. It was easier to do it while it was night time on Shanxi. It made her tired and she'd dream in class, more and more of Dad and sometimes, of Garrus.

He sent her pictures of places he went to on Palaven. He told her he was living in Cipritine. There were pictures of tall gray buildings shining with metallic sheen. He even sent a picture of an animal native of Palaven he'd seen at the local zoo.

"My sister had finished her exams with the felicitations of the jury, so we celebrated it. She had many gifts. They're considering moving her ahead a year or two so she could start her preparation to Citizenship early. That means that she'll start a civilian service at thirteen before she can enlist properly..."

Sometimes he would give her advice about what to do when she was done with her homework.

"Don't think I don't want to talk to you, but I really think you should tell your teacher how bored you are. I mean, even when you're exhausted from being up all night, you still manage to be the best student in the class. I'm sure she'd give you some more exercises to do if you looked less tired. I don't know if humans actually make gifted students skip a grade or..."

"There are special schools, actually." Jane interrupted, stifling a yawn. "They make you pass an exam first. But they're expensive and also, you have to sleep in a dorm. And I don't think Mom wants me gone. I don't think I want to be away either..."

"Anyway" Garrus said and the expression in his eyes was wonderfully comprehensive. "I think you want to talk to your teacher. And your mother too. That or I'll forward you my exercises, but they're written in turian and I can't translate them. "

"Oh! I can learn turian. You could teach me!" Jane said, excited.

Garrus laughed. Jane laughed too.

"Well… Maybe I can arrange something… I don't promise anything though!" he finally said.

When they hung up and Jane safely hid her omni-tool in her drawer, she had time to think before almost instantaneously falling asleep. "My best friend." She thought.


	6. Chapter 6

The conversations went on and on. Solana always tried to sneak up on him, to ask silly question and inflict misplaced curiosity on Jane, but he terminated the call early when she did that.

Twice a day. At first, they'd take turns. One week was his turn to stay up late, the other, it was her. After reading about human physiology more, though (to his teacher's delight) he asked her if she wanted him to stay up late all the time so she wouldn't have trouble for falling asleep during the day or... But she cut him as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

"Don't worry. I eat my food really quick and I take a nap during the lunch hour now!" Jane said with her soft sing song voice. "I won't sleep in class anymore."

Also, it was more convenient to do it during her night time because she couldn't dodge adults easily, given her age.

She had gotten better. She didn't grunt anymore, her voice was now smooth and high pitched her skin whiter and looking like lime. Garrus couldn't help but think that she was a pretty, fragile looking creature that was no older in his mind than his little sister, even though she was two and a half palaven years older than her.

She was a special type of clever, though. She had suggested that they used a groaning secret language to make the other know when they were caught.

"You have to do it as if you were all sleepy. Or if it's during the day, you do it as if you're grumpy and broody and don't want to talk to anyone! Like, that!"

And then all the muscles of her face were put together into an expression that was so ridiculous that Garrus had to laugh and cut the transmission in favour of his favourite show when Solana barged in his room, thinking she had caught him.

Every time Garrus helped Solana with her homework, he noted the similarities with what Jane told him of her own. She was indeed going through a class which taught proper writing techniques for beginners and reading of simple texts along with basic mathematics. Solana was going through her homework very fast and never made mistakes.

"It's just so simple that I could do it in my sleep!" she once said. Garrus smiled to her and copied her work. If Jane managed to do it in her sleep as well, he could help her better and maybe make her feel like she is learning something. She had confessed that she knew how to read for a long, long time, even though writing was harder.

"It's because it's not just your mind learning." Garrus had explained. "Your brain has to remember how to do it too."

"Seems logical." Jane mumbled, thoughtful. "That way, we can never forget how to write. Like riding a bike…"

"What is a bike?" Garrus had asked.

Jane had sent him a picture of her and one tall woman with brown hair and brown eyes. Jane was looking a bit chubbier and pinkier if that was possible… She was dressed in a white skirt and shirt with a big stain on her chest and she was seated on a strange contraption with wheels. There were four.

"It's my Mom and I, when she taught me how to ride a bike on my fifth birthday. Of course, I don't use the training wheels anymore. Here's another picture..."

This one was a live holo of Jane actually using the bike. It indeed only had the two main wheels left and she was using pedals to make it move. She was laughing and she was probably going fast, her hair was flying in the wind. This was a strange but wonderful sight.

"It looks… Dangerous…"

"It's okay. It's easy, even. You just have to go fast. If the bike doesn't go fast enough it doesn't stay straight and you can fall."

They had ended the conversation abruptly this day. Garrus muttering "_the Vachts"_, one of their signals for "someone is coming". In this case, it was Solana trying to sneak up on him again.

Garrus conjured up his omni-tool and sent the exercises to Jane along with a message: _Don't call me until you're done with those!_

And with a strange grin, he jumped on his hoverboard.


	7. Chapter 7

Jane was always really excited when she got up and when she went to sleep. She had less independence at school, being six years old and not eight and all grown up. She tried to follow her classes with attention, although she felt sleepy. Garrus is a big boy and knows a lot of stuff. She wanted to know as much. She actually learned more about Mom's job from Garrus than from her Mom herself. Mom had just said that she was a Commander on a ship. When she had mentioned it to Garrus, he had given her a list of responsibilities that came with the rank in the turian military.

"That means that she coordinates the crew and makes sure that the ship is properly supplied. Commanders are also the most common Executive Officers, the second highest ranking member of the ship aside from the Captain."

"I want to be a Captain one day. I know you have your own ship when you are a Captain." Jane said.

"You do. But you still have to follow orders from Generals and Admirals. They tell you which sectors need protection, sometimes if there is a specific mission, they order you to do it. Otherwise, the Captain mostly choses how he protects the area he's been given. At least, in the Turian Military it works that way."

"I want to go to space without my Mom to watch me and say 'don't do that' and stuff." Jane sighed. "So I think I'm going to be like her... Alliance I mean."

"That's great!" Garrus says and he sounded quite excited before he added. "Or maybe not if we ever get into a war again!" he amended, his plates shifting into what Jane now interpreted as something close to a thoughtful frown.

Jane was happy about what he said first, though.

"How was it? The war?" she suddenly asked.

"You don't remember?"

"It's hard. I remember that Mom and Dad were always away. I don't remember my Dad well. I know he had red hair like me. He just... Just his face is fuzzy in my head."

"Did your Dad die in the war?"

His face looked strange, his mandibles tightly locked onto his jaw and his brow ridge trembling. Jane could only nod. She was always trying to remember something that might include her father. Something more precise than his red hair and the freckles or the green eyes.

"My... My favourite cousin. She died too. During the occupation. She was ground forces." He said. He looked sad, Jane realised. She was sad too.

"My Mom said Dad died during the battle in space when the turians hit. I... I don't remember him much." she stayed silent a bit. "Mom says that everything you see when you're a kid you forget unless it's really, really important. Then when you're five or six, the memories, you keep them best. Maybe because that's when we start to learn writing. We learn new words and we can name stuff that way."

"Or maybe it's because your brain can help with explaining your environment better." Garrus said. "My memories from before I was two are fuzzy too. I remember my mother, her face, her markings... The markings are really what I remember most."

"I remember..." Jane started.

And then she felt it. She saw her dreams about Dad, vivid and powerful. Except it was weird and it made her sight blurry, so she made up something else instead.

"It's all soft. And warm. I can't see much and I think it's too dry."

"My courses says here that humans don't see well when they are born they only use their sense of smell, touch and hearing. Turians are better with sight, smell and hearing at birth. Back when we were uncivilized, a two years old turian was taught how to hunt prey, already."

She can't help but sighing in relief. He hadn't seen the tears in her eyes. She makes sure they change the subject though. Her favourite, then! _How boring school is!_

"I don't know that kind of stuff about humans." Jane whined. "I'm tired of school... I preferred the exercises you gave me! Will there be more?"

A lot of their discussions revolved around her lessons and homework. Jane went through the ones she got at school really quickly, only having difficulties when she didn't know some word. However, her Mom had taught her how to use the Extranet and how to use online dictionaries. The schooling on Arcturus was mostly home-schooling, private tutoring or the Extranet. She was way too clever for this planet side class and some of the older boys at school started to call her the Spacer. She felt lonely.

Garrus was helping a lot. Mostly because he told her of his homework and sent her his sister's. She was doing the same things she was doing on Shanxi, except it was in an alien language, so it was harder. She had to look up for the words and the way they worked together first. She knew how to type and write them in a few weeks… She even managed to translate something Garrus had said without her translator.

"Yes, I'm always helping Solana with her homework. I'll send them to you…"

Jane squeaked in delight.

"… But I still think you should tell someone that you are bored in class."

And like that, the magic was gone and Jane was annoyed. She harrumphed and pouted. Garrus mandibles grew slack and widened around his jaw in a turian grin. And he was right. She couldn't brood for long during their calls.

"You're my best friend, Garrus. I love you." She said, her cheeks reddening and her eyes gleaming. "I wish we never made war again or ever!"

Garrus was speechless for a moment.

"Well… I don't love little human girls." He finally said, half hesitant, half-joking. "But I can make an exception for you. I wish you were my sister, honestly."

"One day, I will meet you in the flesh." Jane added. Determination was etched onto her face. "One day, I promise, I will shake your hand and hug you like you deserve."

"One day." Garrus said. "If you behave, of course! I don't need bad sisters…"

Jane heard a sound in the corridor. She looked at the door and saw the sliver of light beneath it.

"_Diffolv!_" she whispered before ending the call and swiftly taking refuge under the blankets.

_Someone's coming, probably Mom._

The hardest was to quiet her breathing, though. Mom opened the door and Jane did her best not to squirm or breathe too fast. The ray of light from the corridor was drawing a golden patch on the floor and walls onto which Mom's silhouette appeared. She kneeled next to Jane and kissed her cheek. Then she sighed and left, closing the door softly and turning the lights off.

Jane sighed when she heard Mom's door click shut. She won't be able to hide it longer.


	8. Chapter 8

That is how they got to simpler text messages, along with pictures and attached documents. Garrus would send her exercises and they would schedule their vidcalls better. Usually after Jayne was put to bed. Garrus realised that he had learned a lot from her. Jayne had to download and modify some of the programs to get to understand them. The omni-tool was Laverne's and she had bought it before the war. Only Jane's intuition and flexible brain allowed her to make the initial vidcalls. Garrus was helping her as best as he could, but she mostly did it all by herself. Perusing the application, doing Solana's homework and being a gifted little girl made him learn more about the human's main language.

"It's called English." She said. "It's been the official language for, like, a century! But a lot of people still learn their dialect first, especially the Chinese and the Spanish and the French… But that's because they're French! That's why we have to learn three languages and to be tested in it when we finish school."

"How many dialects do you know?" Garrus asked.

"My Mom speaks Canadian English." Jane says. "So I speak it and I know the Standard English because everyone's got to, even if my dialect is like English with different spelling and swear words. And when we started to live on Shanxi, I started to learn Chinese because there are a lot of people who speak Chinese here. But before that I wanted to learn Québec French, because Québec is in Canada. Are you confused?"

Indeed Garrus was. He couldn't understand how such a divided people conquered the stars. Two thousand years ago, the Turian Hierarchy had outlawed everything that gave colonies an identity: their languages, their customs, their laws, their flags. And it was all for the best, because Turians were one with the Hierarchy, now. The Asari Republics also had dialects, but they were electing a board of Matriarchs through other boards of Matriarchs ruling regions. Salarians had Dalatrasses gathered in a Union, but Earth was still a patchwork of nations who merely allowed the Alliance to make decisions about everything touching to space travel in their place. The humans did elect an Alliance Parliament, but they did it through direct universal suffrage. It was a lot of power to give to eleven billion individuals.

Democracy always made Garrus shudder ever since he first heard of the concept. Too much room for error… Or corruption. He didn't say it out loud, though. Maybe she thought meritocracy barbaric too and wouldn't know better because she didn't know about the galaxy much yet.

"I don't understand how you guys still have that many languages. We lost so much of them, already with the Unification…"

"I guess…" Jane's brows furrowed together. "I guess that is because we want so much to be like each other, while still be different, or the big star that everybody knows." She finally said. "We live here, trying not to annoy everybody, but we want to annoy them because we want them to know we're here. So we start talking our own language, but at the same time, we learn Standard because we don't want to look like we're just rednecks who know nothing. Also, it's required if you want to work with the Alliance, in Tourism, or if you want to work in a bank or in the stock markets… I think that's all… Oh and Science Po International only takes people that have twenty-five points in the Standardized Test, so I guess that if you want to be a diplomat, you got to be really good with Standard with no accent at all…"

"What is Science Po International?"

"It's the big school for diplomats and journalists and it's very posh and stuff… But they're the best. Almost every people I met on Arcturus had their Mom and Dad pass through there. Except the Alliance personnel, they only need fifteen ST points and they go through the Academy. Oh, look what I have there!"

A file came through Garrus' omni-tool. He could manage to read the letters, but they didn't make a lot of sense until he looked them through the translator. It was an Alliance Academy leaflet.

"They explain everything that happens from when you sign the enlisting form to when you get your big diploma at a fancy party with dress blues'd brass and get your postings. Look here, page seven! They show how much you have to study depending on the rank you aim."

Six months of boot camp and two years of basic for everyone. Six additional weeks were the beginning of officer training, then the longer you stayed, the higher you started.

"And it says that you can have real missions at the same time. I think I'll aim for the top. See, the N7 logo? They're the best of the best and they only take you after you've completed full officer training and got five years of experience and five commendations, minimum."

"That's… That's special forces." Garrus said. "You're really ambitious. And you're only six…"

"Seven!" she yelled.

Right… It was her birthday a few weeks ago, he forgot.

"You're only six. You know you'll have a lot of responsibilities, right?" he told her.

"Yes, you told me about it. I get to have a ship and help people and kill bad guys…"

"You know it's hard, do you?"

"I know. I see how Mom is tired sometimes. But when I'm all grown up, I'll be a hero and she'll be proud of me. Will… Will you be proud of me?" she asked.

He wondered if she wanted to do it just to emulate him, to live the exotic life of a turian as best as she could with her little human body submitted to human laws and bound by human customs. That would mean enlisting later than a turian would and going through ranks at a more slow pace… And maybe, one day, if everything went well, turians and humans would meet on the battlefield as allies and he would be next to her, he would shake her hand. Her friend. He felt a strange feeling swell in is chest.

"Of course I'll be proud. I'm proud right now!" he finally said. "My little human sister!"

She smiled and it was the most beautiful sight in the world. At least, she had a plan in her head, she wasn't rushing headlong. He checked on her homework, on her turian language skills and then they were on their way to class and to bed. Garrus was smiling as he fixed Solana's breakfast and hopped on his hoverboard. He didn't notice how she was scowling at him, though.


	9. Chapter 9

Jane was crying. She felt awful and ashamed. Why couldn't she stop crying like a baby? Mom was holding her close as her engineer friend was looking at the turian omni-tool. Mom didn't seem surprised when Jane came to her. She didn't yell or scolded her. And she hugged her close when she started to cry. She didn't call a regular maintenance man, she called one of her friends and talked to him in whispers about turian tech and turian friends and discretion.

It had been a month, though. At first, Jane tried all by herself to get the communication protocols running. She dug a hole through the Extranet perusing hackers and developers forums. Then her grades started to drop, dramatically and she lost life as she realised that she couldn't do it all alone, because she was six and that coding software was complicated.

Then she finally begged Mom to help, because she didn't know what else to do to get Garrus back. And the tears had flowed. Andrew, the engineer was nice enough. He asked questions about Garrus. How old he was, what his favourite class was…

"Maths." She groaned. "He joked about how much he loved xenobiology now that I made it real…"

"Well, that's something we humans should teach our own children. How to deal with aliens. How to talk to them…"

"He says they're mostly learning to know the biology. Where is the heart, how does the brain work, why is it different from an Asari's or a Turian's… Also, how to recognise the age, so you would be careful with children."

She wasn't crying anymore when she was talking, but her throat was aching, as if someone was constantly trying to choke her. She was always suffocating. And soon, there would be the big summer holidays and she would be even more alone.

"Jane, I have bad news." Andrew said. "I can't bypass the protocols…"

Jane felt her throat constrict again and the tears well, but she pushed herself closer into Mom's shirt and listened.

"But now I know why it did this. What do you know of the omni-tool?"

"That it was Garrus' cousin's. That she was ground forces during the war and she died."

"Do you know what happens when you make a vidcall, or send messages?"

Jane didn't know, so she shook her head from right to left.

"It costs money, so Garrus' cousin's account must have paid for that right? I think Garrus' Aunt and Uncle closed the account because their daughter was dead. That's why you can't use the software. It's tied to her line. You'd need one of your own to use those now. And I'm pretty sure turian carriers don't cover Shanxi, Bug…"

Jane's eyes went huge. She started to cry again and this time nobody could stop it. She yelled until her voice was raw, cried until her heart was sore and empty. Mom had the doctor sign excuses for her and didn't bother her. She smiled whenever Jane was not crying and not making a fuss when they were eating. Adrew stayed too and Jane was grateful for that because she told him of her great plan to become N7 by the time she got twenty and he was amazed.

"Garrus, he… The last vidcall we had. He said he was proud of me. That I was his little human sister." She said, feeling like she was about to burst into a useless pile of tears like a baby with a soiled nappy again. She didn't like it. She didn't like being all alone with Mom.

"Well, he seems like a very considerate kinda guy, doesn't he?" Andrew answered. "From what I know, turians love their military. He really must love the fact that you want to be Alliance like your Momma."

"They do." Jane said, simply.

Sometimes, they would catch her watching the various pictures he had sent her. She'd hide them at first, but Andrew would always find the right words to make her share and Mom could watch too after that.

One day, it was harder. Because this day meant that it had been a year since she found Cousin Laverne's omni-tool in the bunkers. She didn't want to go out of bed this day, but Mom came to her room anyway and sneaked next to her in her child's bed to hug her tight.

"Look, Janey, I… I want to make you happy." She started. "So lately, I've been busy asking some friends some money to make a vidcall. We gathered enough for an hour. I want you to call Garrus and tell him you're alright. That means no crying and no yelling and throwing food everywhere for a while. Okay?"

Except that Jane could only cry. This time, it was because she was happy, though.


	10. Chapter 10

Garrus felt like he was sitting on hot coals. Mother and Father were seated in front of them in the living room. Solana was beside him, her head low. Aunt Demetra and Uncle Cassius were there too.

At first, when she hadn't answered, he thought of a bigger problem and almost panicked. Then the automatic message played. "This line has been terminated by its owner."

Now, he was in the living room. This time, he thought, there would be a bigger pensum than those they give at school.

"Solana told us that your obsession over this little human girl had made you neglect your duties. Is that true?" Father asked.

"I was late to a few classes. Solana is well cared for every morning and every evening I'm helping her with her homework. I also still have excellent grades, Father." Garrus said, in a voice he hoped stayed even.

"Solana also told us that you gave the human homework. Is that true?"

"Yes."

"How has the human came into possession of your cousins' omni-tool?"

"She told me that she had found it in the Shanxi resistance bunkers. One that had at one point been repurposed by our troops. She stumbled on the omni-tool and called the first number in the list."

Father sighed and glanced at his sister. Aunt Demetra looked a bit haunted and Uncle Cassius a bit tired.

"Why did you continue the calls knowing well that it had a cost?" Father asked again, staring back at Garrus.

"I…"

Weakness.

"I didn't think. I was curious because she had a sickness and she looked so young. I didn't want to bother her with Laverne's death. I… I totally forgot about what this must have cost. I swear to you I will repay every single credit she spent!" he added.

Mother opened her mouth. Father looked at her.

"Did you really say that she was your little human sister?" she asked.

Garrus hesitated. He was betrayed anyway by his voice that was chanting truth. I love her.

"I did." He finally said, making it final. "I grew attached to her. She's clever and she wants to enter the human military at eighteen, like her parents did."

Silence fell back onto the living room. It was almost impossible to bear, though.

"I… She told me she was bored at school but didn't dare to say anything, lest her Mother sent her to a specific boarding school. She was alone because she used to live on a space station and was scorned by her schoolmates. I was her only friend, her confident and I gave her Solana's homework to do so she would feel better. So yes, she is my human little sister. I love her as much as I love Sol."

Sol's voice grew fierce and frustrated and she finally yelled and ran out to her room. When she was far enough that her harmonics weren't heard anymore, Aunt Demetra said:

"You will indeed repay every expense made by your other sister." She said. "To the last credit."

Garrus let his voice humbly notice the adults that he had understood. Cassius then laughed bitterly.

"I knew little Sol was jealous the moment she added that you had neglected your duties." He said.

Indeed she was. Why else would she get their relatives, blatantly lying to them to get the line closed. Garrus hoped she'd be punished harshly for this lie.

"A good turian is never late to class, however." Father said.

"I did all of my pensums and I never lied to anyone." Garrus said, on the defensive.

"Of course you did your pensums." Mother exclaimed, sounding shocked that anyone wouldn't assume the consequences of their acts. "It's bad enough that you forgot the cost of simple things or omitted that you had a penfriend we knew nothing about. You'd have been punished harder than that if you had defied authority in that manner." She added.

"Does that mean that there won't be further punishment?" Garrus said.

"No." Father said. "However, should the little girl call again, I beg you to be careful. It's only been four years… I don't think it is a trap or a clever scheme to undermine the Hierarchy's power, obviously…"

"They'd target the Primarch's children…" Garrus said.

"But it could have been a human with a revenge streak using a child to get to any turian." Mother whispered, her mandibles quivering at the thought. "Please, next time tell us that you are talking with strangers. As cute and pink as they are."

"I promise, Mother, Father. And I'm sorry Aunt Demetra, Uncle Cassius…"

"There is no need to be sorry." Uncle Cassius said. "You three are children. Sometimes children don't think. But you need to turian up for later, Garrus. You won't be a child forever. Neither your sister or that human girl. You have responsibilities, boy. It's even doubled now that you've fallen for a cute pyjak-face…"

Garrus looked at his uncle with a hurt look and then realised that he was joking. He wished Laverne was here. She'd have laughed. However, he would have never met Jane had she lived… Or would he? She could have just lost the 'tool, right. Damn, this was getting complicated, he thought.

Mother hugged him, this day and things almost went back to what they were before Jane had sneaked into Garrus' life. He would help his sister every morning and every evening. He would be punctual…

However, a certain life had left his eyes as he resumed his daily routine of the most unremarkable nine years old turian.


	11. Chapter 11

"Since I'm going to a whole new school on Fehl Prime, Mom will get posted there and the teacher said that I could pass a test to go straight to third grade without going through the second. Also, I'll have to have a few extra lessons to make sure I'm not late with some of the books we're supposed to read. And, I'm a bit sad because they don't have a Chinese teacher."

She was talking quickly, as if she was afraid the line would cut before she could say everything she wanted. She had almost cried when she had said that she had missed him and he said "missed you too."

"That's too bad!" Garrus said. "What other languages do they teach."

"French, Greek, Japanese and Latin." Jane answered. "I don't want to learn Latin, there isn't a lot of people who still speak it. I think that I will try Japanese. The Japanese people are really beautiful and classy."

Garrus smiled.

"I'll spend two months with Mom on the ship, though." Jane said. "I don't know if I can call when I'm aboard. But I'll send you text messages."

"Do you still want to enlist later?" Garrus asked.

"I don't know." Jane said. "Mom said it was dangerous and she completely flipped out. I think I'll enlist. I'm just not sure about the whole N7 thing anymore, though."

"Serve as best as you can." Garrus said with a smile.

Jane smiled.

"Hey, it's in the last text you sent me!" she remembered.

"Then what does it mean?" Garrus asked with an expecting tone behind his words.

"That every citizen must serve with what they do best." Jane said.

"Yes." Garrus said. "It's all about the Plinius philosophy of not expecting too much of the lowest tiered citizens and…"

"And that some of them aren't fit for the ultimate sacrifice." Jane added. "Do all your people think like that?"

"Yes." Garrus answered. "That's one way to make it work, though. It worked for us… That's why we're all preparing for the worst."

Jane suddenly yelled.

"MOMMY?"

"Yes, Janey?"

"What was the latin phrase you told me when I asked you what Latin was?"

"Quid vis pacem para bellum?"

"What did it mean already?"

"It means whoever wants peace should prepare to war. And I also said it fitted the turians well…"

"Garrus? You heard?"

"I think we all heard it." Garrus winced. He glanced at his Mother next to him, out of the vidcam's field. She had jumped to her feet when she heard Jane's yelling.

"Hey. I want to send you some stuff through the mail. Mom says I can't send you cookies, but maybe I can send you gifts. You never told me when your birthday was!"

"That's because we don't use the same time measurement system. You'd have to figure it out from the Galactic Standard Time and then you'll complain that my birthday doesn't happen every human year." Garrus said. "Also, we don't celebrate birthdays. Only Remembrance Day, when someone you knew died, and Unification Day."

Jane's face lit up as she suddenly had an idea :

"Maybe we can say the day we first talked is your birthday? Not when your sister called me a baby, the second time!"

Garrus' seemed sceptical.

"That's…"

"I'll send you a lot of things! Plush toys and drawings and books and buns and…"

"Jane! I told you already that Garrus can't eat our food!"

"Oh, right! I forgot…"

"Keep your pocket money, Jane." Garrus said. "You don't need to send me gifts. Especially if you still want to call me on a regular basis."

"But can we meet, one day? For real?" she asked.

Her big eyes were expectant, hopeful. Garrus glanced at his father.

"Maybe we can arrange something whenever the Shepards hit the Citadel… If Commander Shepard agrees on a date for it…"

The Commander Shepard appeared on screen.

"Maybe I'll call you myself so we can settle that." She said. "We all have duties, for example having outstanding grades at school…"

Jane scowled. _Please, I've been having those upstanding grades in my sleep. Literally._ Garrus managed to repress a snicker.

A year later, they were hugging each other goodbye beneath the Citadel Tower.


	12. Chapter 12

"Vakarian."

"Shepard."

The Citadel Tower didn't matter. Only the old friend.

Time. Always time. It set them apart for a while. Twenty years ago, they had hugged at the exact same place. Might have been an eternity. It was the very first and the very last time they had seen each other.

They hadn't lied. It was hard, but she did it. She was N7, the best of the best. Not in command of her own ship yet, but time was young.

He knew humans better than anyone in C-Sec. It made him automatically the person of choice for discussions with humans, victims, suspects and criminals alike. Not exactly what he intended to do with his life, but time was young.

"Been a while…"

"Indeed."

"I heard you were on Saren's case? I might be interested…"

"Didn't find anything. Everything's classified…"

Silence. The tension was palpable.

"Wanna catch up someday? Whenever you're free."

"What, big bad turian need a hug again?"

"Always from my long lost little human sister."

For a second, the seasoned warrior and the hardboiled detective were six and nine again and the best friends the Galaxy had ever known.

* * *

**Thank you for reading. Thank you OP on Mass Effect Kink Meme for this awesome prompt. Thanks for all the alerts and faves I got ! Yours, truly. - Y.**


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